


Lawman

by nocturnal08



Category: Justified
Genre: Gen, Outlaw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-04
Updated: 2013-03-04
Packaged: 2017-12-04 06:19:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/707502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nocturnal08/pseuds/nocturnal08
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i> “Baby, Arlo passed,” Ava said mildly, filling Raylan’s glass again.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Boyd took the news in stride, eyes flickering to the lawman. Raylan disposed of the whiskey with a tight swallow and grinned mirthlessly at Boyd. “I’m terribly broken up,” he said dryly.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“You’re just starting to realize how broken you really are, my friend,” Boyd returned with smile as sharp as a butcher’s knife. </i>
</p><p>After the events from the episode "Outlaw," Raylan turns up at Boyd's bar, asking for a drink he doesn't need.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lawman

“I think it was why he shot Bergen... He didn’t know he was a state trooper, he just saw a man with a hat pointing a gun at Boyd.”

\- Raylan, “Slaughterhouse”

Boyd took in the scene with an analytical eye. It was his bar, his fiancée pouring the drinks, his music playing, his liquor being served. What was not his was the oh-so-familiar cowboy hat and its squinting U.S. marshal, who was leaning over the bar with that sad little grin of his, eyes lighting on Ava. Boyd knew no kind of man could look on her without hunger, and so much the worse for the man who had once had her warm in his bed. But now the season had changed.

“What are you doing here, Raylan?” he drawled, looking suspiciously at the marshal as he drew close to Ava. She looked up and saw him. Oh, but he wanted to live in that moment forever, when her face changed at the sight of him. Her smile, mocking as it was, steadied him. The fire of her gaze made the flames inside him leap up in answer. She was beautiful and she was his. He claimed her hand. His coal miner’s thumb stroked her smooth Harlan county skin as he turned to the marshal with a raised eyebrow.

“Stakeout,” Raylan grunted, looking down and grinning loosely at his own joke.

“And you got tired of waiting in the car?” Boyd asked dryly. Ava handed Boyd a drink and he downed it, watching the empty shot glass Raylan rolled around in his fingers.

“Seemed like more fun in here.”

“We do aim to please,” Boyd said, leaning in for emphasis. He drew in a breath to continue probing.

“Baby, Arlo passed,” Ava said mildly, filling Raylan’s glass again.

Boyd took the news in stride, eyes flickering to the lawman. Raylan disposed of the whiskey with a tight swallow and grinned mirthlessly at Boyd. “I’m terribly broken up,” he said dryly.

“You’re just starting to realize how broken you really are, my friend,” Boyd returned with smile as sharp as a butcher’s knife.

“We’re not friends,” Raylan reminded him.

“But we dug coal together, Raylan!” Boyd laughed, leaning over the bar, purposefully jostling Ava with his hip. She grinned and swatted at him playfully.

“I do not need to see this right now,” Raylan said, shaking his head.

“Then why,” Boyd said, licking his lips puckishly, “did you come here, Raylan?”

Raylan glared at him. “I don’t rightly know.”

“Yes you do,” Ava said, grinning and pouring him another drink.

“So Arlo... went quietly in his sleep?” Boyd asked with a genial smile.

“Wouldn’t that be ironic?” Raylan said. “No, he was shivved in the chest over this Drew Thompson business. I guess I bear some of the blame for that, but I ain’t the reason he was in prison in the first place.”

“He wouldn’t take your deal?” Ava said sympathetically.

Raylan’s face was stony and he took the drink in the way it hurt the most. “His exact words? ‘Kiss my ass,’” he said tightly.

Ava and Boyd exchanged a knowing glance. Raylan shook his head, trying to clear it. “I shouldn’t be here,” he said, palming his hat.

“Raylan,” Ava said, dangling his keys from her finger. “We passed the point of no return a few shots ago, honey.”

“I’ll get a cab,” Raylan grunted. “Wouldn’t want to interrupt things. I hear you’re on a timeline to find Drew Thompson.”

“Same as you,” Boyd said, “but it’s not so urgent I can’t take a moment to toast a fallen man.”

“Oh, I’m not drinking to him,” Raylan corrected, shaking his head. “But you can. Since he’s your family and all.”

“Oh, you are feeling maudlin tonight,” Boyd said, drinking with a smile playing across his face.

“He killed a cop for you. He died in prison for you,” Raylan said, bitterness in his smile. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he found some way to give you Drew Thompson, just to spite me.”

“Then I really would drink to the man,” Boyd said mildly. 

Raylan looked belligerent. If he had his way, he’d be taking a beating tonight, just like his daddy always taught him. Why else would he have showed up here, looking for a drink?

“I’ll take care of the service,” Ava said, wiping the counter where the water glasses were sweating little rings.

“If ya like,” Raylan said, reluctantly sipping the water. “I honestly don’t think he’s got anyone to mourn for him.”

“We’ll put your daddy in the ground, Raylan,” Boyd said. “But when you stand on his grave, you’ll find little consolation in it.”

“Boyd, if it was my wishing him dead that could have killed that man, he would have left us in peace long ago. I got too many miserable memories to feel like I won this round.” He rubbed his eye, feeling old. “What a son of a bitch,” he said in a tone that approached admiration.

“A real outlaw,” Boyd said, grinning. “No wonder we got on so well.”

“Yeah,” Raylan grunted, glancing up tiredly.

“Wasn’t your fault, Raylan,” Ava put in. “Some things just can’t be mended.”

“And I gave up trying a long time ago,” Raylan confessed.

Ava did not refill his glass. Raylan glanced up at her, considering his words as well as a drunk and grieving man can. “Winona’s having my baby,” he said, slurring a little and looking horrified.

Ava stifled an unkind laugh. “Congratulations,” she said with an indulgent smile. Boyd squeezed her hand, his proud smile telling her someday he’d make her a mama. They were going to do it better than anyone else had ever done it before. Three generations.

Raylan’s only consolation was a half shot more of whiskey. One he’d regret in the morning. “I’m gonna give that kid some good memories,” Raylan said, taking his whiskey like it was medicine. “I’ll give him _something_.”

“You having a boy, Raylan?” Boyd grinned.

“The hell if I know,” Raylan said with a despondent smile.

“Don’t you worry about what kind of father you’re gonna make Raylan,” Ava said with a twinkling eye. “Anyway, a tormented childhood gives a man character. Ain’t that right, baby?”

“That what you love about me? My character?” Boyd teased.

“I don’t you know how you go from ‘Bowman’s creepy brother Boyd’ to this.” Raylan gestured in disgust at the two, hip to hip and grinning like teenagers. “And I know, I know, the whole Bonnie and Clyde thing is sooo much fun, but remember who ended up with the bullet holes in the end.” He gave them a smug smile and tipped his empty glass to them.

Ava tossed her hair to the side and lifted her shirt coquettishly for the both of them, revealing her scar. “Bullet holes can heal,” she said, laughing at the riveted looks she had earned. Boyd grinned and started to unbutton his shirt.

“Leave it on,” Raylan barked, shielding his eyes with one languid hand. “And don’t forget who put that bullet in you.” He glanced at Ava. “Not to mention who helped me,” He said, as if just remembering. Ava’s hand palmed Boyd’s chest nostalgically, possessively. Raylan rolled his eyes. “Should I go?” he asked.

Ava and Boyd turned toward him. “Yes,” Boyd drawled with a impatient smile.

“I’ll get you a ride,” Ava promised. “And let Winona know you’re coming over.”

Raylan scoffed. “She doesn’t like...”

“... she puts up with more than you think,” Ava put in.

Raylan snapped his mouth shut. He might not be an outlaw, but that didn’t make him good. It certainly didn’t make him worthy of a woman like Winona.

“Your conscience worrying you, brother?” Boyd asked solicitously.

“No more than usual,” Raylan replied, putting on his hat and weaving a little on his way toward the door. He saw the blood stain he’d left in the floor and turned back, reminded of another matter. “You know anything about Drew Thompson, Boyd?”

“Even if I did, Raylan, I wouldn’t tell you,” Boyd said honestly. “Man’s got to make a living.”

“Arlo died making a living just like yours,” Raylan commented, turning toward the door.

“And alotta lawmen like you go down every single day, Raylan” Boyd said. “Especially the ones with something to prove. Arlo was an old man and he took his secrets to the grave. Could be more something to aspire to.”

“Well, I’m not planning to meet Arlo in hell any time soon,” Raylan said with a shrug.

“No more than I,” Boyd said, grinning. “May the best man win!” he called from behind the bar.

“I think I have you both beat, at least in that,” Raylan said, letting the door close behind him with a bang.


End file.
